Looking up: Sixteen-year-old John Kraus is a rocket launch photographer

John Kraus rocket launch photography

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launches cargo and science to the ISS, and the first stage of the rocket comes back and lands at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in July of 2016. Photo by John Kraus

Growing up in Satellite Beach, Florida, John Kraus has been watching launches for as long as he can remember. He's now a photojournalist who covers rocket launches for AmericaSpace.com. Oh, and he's just sixteen years old. Feel old yet? Keep reading to see more of his images and find out more about him.

Brilliant shots! Having worked for many years on a military missile program I also never got tired of watching many test launches. Most in the early morning. To witness a rocket launch in real life and feel the man-made thunder is a real thrill.

Damn, he knows what he's doing! Stunning shots! What I would give to shoot such a subject matter, although I take it that he has pretty good skills for something that difficult, and I would probably have trouble taking anything similar.

Legal Copyrights and who owns those Copyrights.May not apply here. But at Major League Sporting Events it does.Case in point, Miami Dolphin owner of Dolphin Stadium. He sets the rules on photographic ownership of all photo's taken at the stadium.If you pay big money, you have access to photograph the sporting event.Average sports fan who enters the stadium with professional lens, will be turned away. Stadium officials said: Paid Professionals have legal copyrights to shoot the game, not the fan.

Kinda personal Kevin?Special access to news worthy events, usually has the best photographic results. Knowing someone or paying big money for special access is common.This 16 year old, had connections to view and shoot that close.Sport shooters pay thousands to be on the sidelines to shoot football games.And you also see....visitors on the sidelines who got special access for free.

Another view about shooting.....I once went to a Major League Baseball Game and took my 50D and 100-400mm. After paying, stadium officials refused to let me enter with my 100-400mm. They said...my lens was a professional lens, only paid professional photographers on the field are allowed to use those lens in the stadium.

I've never paid a penny to shoot any of the pro sports events I've shot. I've always been on assignment.The youngster who shot the space launches was a credentialed photojournalist on assignment.Again, educate yourself before commenting.

Great stuff John.One of my dreams as a kid was to see a space shuttle launch, but because I'm in New Zealand it wasn't an easy dream to achieve. Now that's no longer possible, but shots like yours really do bring at least some of the space program experience to those that may never see it in person.Well done.

Permit was the wrong word. Sorry. Press credentials are required to get where those close up launch cameras are placed (like in photos 2,4 and 6). You will not be allowed anywhere near there unless you are credentialed press. You talked about it being illegal. It's just not possible. You have miles of open ground or swamp to cross.

@mailman88 - Press access doesn't get people that close? Is that why in this photo I'm standing at a launchpad unharmed when there's guards ready to shoot anyone who steps in the gates illegally? https://instagram.com/p/BHA9E8uhLxX/

It's not as hard to get press access now as it was during the space shuttle days. It's not illegal to setup cameras where I do. And prior to starting photography I knew no one who had press access until I stumbled across the editor of my outlet and asked him if I could shoot as a media member.

Most media outlets that cover launches (well, the smaller commercial satellite or military payload launches) are small space news outlets. I've never seen Discovery out there. (Also, I don't "pay" to get access to do what I do.)

Good for you John, getting work shooting space launches. These people can't really think NASA charges press for access? And that you are standing there at the base of the launch pad with your camera? The fact that you would die from the shock wave at launch just goes over their head (figuratively). That heavy Delta rocket launch would kill anything within a half mile. Remote cameras people. With sound triggers. You have to have access twice to the site.@Mailman88 no, NASA hasn't left. When they start the next manned program, I will be there on the NASA causeway with an 800mm and TC.

Hey Kevin, ever been to the cape and watch a launch?Security so tight, nobody gets thru. After 9-11, even tighter.I know what I'm talking about. Lived in Cocoa Florida, just miles from the cape.This 16 year old got special access....Period!

well exposed and composed, a great feat of planning considering the long exposures and distances, and the decisive moment of the close shots just before the rocket exhaust clouds the visivilty to nill, this kid deserves alot of credit for doing more than "just having access", he got the access because he was clearly getting interesting shots from afar, bravo!

Remember that just being there, is one of the biggest hurdles for photographers. Getting off the bum - if you will. It's easy to forget how much work goes into just getting your camera in the right spot, let alone getting your timing and exposure and composition right. While some compositional elements could be nitpicked here, we are talking about a 16yr old with limited experience pulling of what most readers here wish they would get themselves off the couch to do. Perspective indeed. ;)

"just being there", in this case, involves much less effort than it would for most people. That is the point people are trying to make, I think. The kid literally has spaceships taking off in his back yard. You're bound to hear some grumbling from all the people who didn't grow up next to a miracle factory that they could take pictures of to bolster their interests in photography.

Had this kid not lived there, would he have ended up any different than the masses of "hobbyists" forced to carefully manage finances and free time from a 40 hour a week job with the desire to make it to locations and practice photography? Would he have an interest in photography at all?

We'll never know, but I can see how people would groan at hearing a story like this. It's akin to how people react to the children of famous artists becoming artists. They may have talent, but really it's a matter of location, location, location.

@PaceKeeper - None of my family is involved with anything I do; they're not photographers or engineers. I didn't get in through them. After almost a year of shooting launches on my own time, I was accepted to shoot for the outlet I do now. Sure, location is important but not every photographer on the Space Coast is staying out in the middle of the night shooting launches, taking advantage of the opportunity apparently handed to them because of their location. Not every photographer shot every launch they could for awhile and found a way to get media access.

And yeah, I'd still have an interest in photography. I didn't really think about shooting launches when I bought it. I just thought it'd just be a fun hobby to try out. While I'm not juggling a 40 hour work week and I don't have a family to support, I still have school to deal with.

@cgarrard - I'd love to hear some advice on any composition related problems you have in mind.

As a 16 year old I was constantly going around my local area taking photos. Presuming that this comes down more to motivation that luck of habitation is just as ungracious as claiming he's very lucky.

Luck of timing is also somewhat of a consideration. When a lot of readers here were 16, photography was analogue and getting your work seen at that age was much harder.

They're undoubtable nice photos, but as peacekeeper mentions, this will irk people in the same way many "child prodigy" stories will, in the sense it is as much luck as skill or determination. No-one likes to be reminded of all the chances they've missed in life because of who gave birth to them.

So many stunning moments go unnoticed--usually when the people are sleeping or watching TV. Many people were born in the right place to capture amazing pictures and just don't realize it. This isn't rocket science... but it does help inspiration a little to have actual rockets blasting off in your back yard. ;) Then again, more than one person lives in this town and probably many of them have cameras and are not being featured here.

I captured plenty of beautiful images of my neighbourhood. Won local photography awards for them. But no matter how beautiful you make some suburbs, they will always be suburbs, and will never be of as much global interest as rockets. As mentioned also many of the people grumbling, myself included, grew up with much harder to access distribution methods.

I'm not saying this kid hasn't produced some lovely images, just that I can understand why articles like this make people (myself included) a bit sour.

@DFPanno I am not diminishing his work, I never even spoke of his work in the photographic sense of the word.

What I was trying to do was explain a certain amount of sour-ness(as someone aptly put it) that is going to be displayed any time a story like this is shared. While he did take the effort of going out to take these photos while some others would not have, there are countless thousands of others doing the same amount of work(in the "labor" sense of the word), if not more, and receiving very little recognition. Not for lack of talent, for lack of public interest in the subject matter.

@johnkrausphotos You sort of hit the nail on the head when you stated "I didn't really think about shooting launches when I bought it". It was a convenient subject that just happened to be visually stunning, have WIDE appeal, a ready made audience, and can be found in only a handful of places on the planet. Not everyone has that chance. Hence, the groaning. Plus, well, arseholes. But ignore them.

@johnkrausphotos , regardless how close or how far you might be from the place of Photographic Action. You have to go and DO IT. Yes you are in a lucky position to be close but still have to GO OUT AND DO IT !!, I'm sure there plenty folks like you with plenty great cameras surrounding you, but John YOU DO IT, you follow your passion with the fabulous energy embodied in a young man. Having been a professional photographer for more than 40 years I know what it takes to get 'that shot': getting up at unholy times , prepare your gear, travel, carry it a long way and then waiting in hot, cold , wet, dry weather, just for that 'one shot'. I honestly can not give much advise on composition you really nail it well. Just one idea: Once you have done all the obvious launch angles why not adventure in following a rocket at a slow shutter speed perhaps ?Keep on going as you do my friend , follow your photographic heart for ever and you'll be right. Greetings from Australia :-)

I disagree with those on here who feel the "sourness" towards this article. "Envy" might be a better word for it. What this young man has produced, and the time/effort/energy/vision required for this, is nothing less than astounding. I applaud him mightily for his work, and cannot wait to see more!

Now here is the thing. We all have interesting aspects of our environment, that we can utilize to our photographic benefit, and then your work would be the subject of this "envy" (if that is what you are going for, anyhow). I disagree with those who say that since they don't have rockets being launched from their proverbial backyard, that they don't have anything as interesting to shoot. Just because you don't have VISION, doesn't make what you have less, nor does it give you the right to feel "bitter".

Take some classes on art, composition, and find inspiration. Those of you who feel "bitter" or "sour", really need to step back and consider what you are really doing, and examine your efforts for your own photography. Remember, you can make a work of art out of just about ANYTHING if you put your mind to it!!

Again, congrats to John, and I really look forward to seeing more of your amazing work! Highly inspiring stuff here!

@txsizzler Envy might be a suitable word for the feeling towards the child. Of course I would have liked to have grown up there, instead of a dull suburb, much like any other, just with duller weather.

You can claim my dull suburb is interesting if you want, and to a certain extent it is; as mentioned I won local competitions when I was younger, but they'd never have the global appeal of rockets (+ digital has made distribution a lot easier).

So sure, I wish I had the opportunities this child had when I was his age, but I didn't, and I wouldn't berate him just because he was lucky.

The sourness I, and I feel others, have expressed though isn't towards the child as you seem to understand, but towards the article. Wording such as "Feel old yet?" just slaps a bit of "well what have you done with your life" to which the answer is "all I could have" but simply due to chance; not hard work, or determination, or artistic vision, with regards to published photography that is simply less.

They were in the right place at the right time, and as such have nearly 700,000 views. It's shaky amateur footage, and as the rest of the shaky amateur footage on their channel shows, if it were of virtually anything else wouldn't be worth more than a few thousand views.

Now this is not to take away from what the kid has done, he's bothered getting off his ass and they're nice photos, but luck of birth plays a huge part and the way this article presents it can grate a bit with those who were on the opposite end of the spectrum.

No, that wasn't me. That was Mike Wagner of US Launch Report. I was in school when it happened as the media isn't invited to the static fire tests. I was planning on being at the launchpad the day after the explosion happened to setup a camera, and I was planning on shooting the launch this morning.

Press photographers can set up cameras near the launch pad with sound triggers. Employees, press, special guests and others have a site about 2.3 miles away from the pad. The closest you can get to the launch site (NASA Causeway) with a ticket is about 5 miles away. The closest the average person in the public can get without a ticket is about twice as far.

First site of the title and I was thinking it was the Physicist and we were about to get a string theory demonstration. Then I thought cool he is a photographer I wonder if Brian Greene is with him. Man I got to stop reading this quantum stuff and get some sleep. :)

RedFox88. What would you prefer him to spend the money on? Weed, or something other less inspiring for people to enjoy?I remember saving up money from a paper round for 18 months to get something I wanted when I was 14. Good luck to him. His photos are inspiring, and I hope he has a great future ahead of him...however he decides to spend HIS money.

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